Repeating History
by veronca
Summary: Will Yuna choose to find her past love? She's such a wishy washy! [Yuna X Baralai] Bits of YunaxTidus past. COMPLETE.
1. First chapter: the summary

_Note:Don't have a beta as I'll try and make this more legible as I can._

**CHAPTER ONE: The History in the Future; an overall summary.**

>

Five years have passed and the calm has reached its peaceful place in the world of Spira.

There hasn't been much trouble with the far plane and since Yuna and her friends have kept the Ronso from shedding any more bloodshed on the Guados, the Guados have been able to keep the far plane at a great stability. Even the once menacing Shuyin had finally found his peace with Lenne and there hasn't been a word about them. The holes in which were formed five years ago by Vegnagun in the chambers of the Fayth are still there.

For some reason, even workers and the Al-bheds have tried to patch up the hole but to no avail. Since there hasn't been much activity from the pyre flies the quest for repairing the holes were abandoned. However, the rest of Spira has certainly flourished. Yuna finally settled down and decided to put her thoughts aside from the man whose face she'd never forget. How can she stop living when he died so long ago?

It seemed so long ago but it felt like yesterday when she was doing her very first pilgrimage with her beloved guardians and the Aeons who protected her. These were the memories that kept her feeling alive. Who would have thought that Yuna would settle down? It wasn't the first time she'd have her hand in marriage offered. First it was the marriage set up during her childhood that Lord Braska and his old time friend had arranged for her. But this was abandoned when her father took on the quest to be the most well known Summoner Spira had to offer in the years to come.

Even the statue of him remains there upon the steps of the temple of Kilika. Paine and Rikku on the other hand had not settled down and continued their quest for Sphere hunting. Rikku, with her wanderlust of building and tearing apart machine all over Spira, and the talent of a master thief, it was hard for her to keep still for even a minute.

Perhaps at a ripe old age, Rikku would remain the same bouncy girl with the quick ability to pick pockets and nab grenades from any party. Paine on the other hand decided she wanted to learn more about her past. She was never the type to settle down or fall in love. Have a baby you say, she says, the thought made her quell. _Not that she didn't like babies. _Indeed, she loved Yuna's twins and has been made godmother, along with Yuna and Rikku to Wakka and Lulu's child who is now nearing 5 years old. It was just not in Paine's blood to carry children. Maybe old age will wear her down but who knows. In the meantime, searching for hidden spheres throughout Spira was enjoyable, plus riding on Brother's airship was such a big thrill for her.

History has certainly changed. There were no more powerful fiends that would threaten Spira's people. There are however fiends that were controllable along Mushroom rock road, the Highroad, Bikanel Island and Thunder Plains. The Moon flow and the Woods have been eliminated of fiends. It was the Ronso group who had made it their quest to eliminate the fiends in disappearance of the woods. Fiends must have helped the progress of its elimination.

So who did Yuna finally settle down with? She became Praetess of New Yevon, and wife to the Praetor Baralei. This came as a big surprise to Paine and the rest of the Crimson Squad. It was Rikku who suspected a little bit of interest in Yuna in Baralei when she decided to join up with the New Yevon group instead of the Youth League. Not that Yuna would have any interest with Nooj if she had chosen to give the stolen sphere to the Youth league, because Nooj was certainly not her type and he belonged to LeBlanc.

Yuna decided that she'd give up looking for her past, give up on the dead which haunts her daily, give up on the first love she had ever had. It was time to move on and promote a different kind of responsibility. She still had the urges of wanderlust and adventure. It was in her blood, to feel the sun in her face, the wind in her hair and uses a gun and hit its target. She was quite the warrior and gunner. Most of all, she was the songstress and the High Summoner that saved Spira and people had not forgotten.

**The End of the Calm: Introduction to Yuna's return to the quest.**

The babies kept her up at night but it was alright for she loved to dote on them and watch their faces light up when their mother paid attention to them. Yuna became one of the loveliest mothers to grace Spira. A former Summoner, and now Praetess of New Yevon, a mother of two and her guns and weapons have been collecting dust balls in the hidden corner of Bevelle's treasure chamber. Setting aside her memories of her former love, she had forged her way to a new future. Her being a wife to Baralei provided that illusion of happiness, aside from the adventures she sometimes longed for. She leaned down and kissed the cheeks of her babies.

Twins, she had and somehow it wasn't so hard to get her girlish figure back. Two girls, with the same eyes as Yuna, blue and green, and hair as light as Baralei's. Yuna often sang songs to them, lulling them to sleep. Baralei hasn't returned home for over a week from his work visiting the hidden ruins that hold secrets within Bevelle. It seemed as if Bevelle has its own locked chambers deep within the entirety of the city. She wasn't really worried.

He can take care of himself and there was the commsphere in which they can communicate if anything amiss should happen. Yuna decided to let him do whatever he wished. She wasn't about to hold him back from finding out the secrets of Bevelle and why the Maester's of old decided to create these hidden secrets deep within the city. It was told that because Bevelle was connected with Macalania woods that it held some sort of Magical quality. Speaking of Macalania woods,

Oáka has been doing very well in his shop, selling at an incredible rate because his competition Rin has decided to retire from the business and live the rest of his days as an entertainer. They were seriously lacking entertainment in all of Spira and Yuna didn't want to become a concert fanatic, journeying from one place to another while she dragged her babies along. Being a mother was an important decision she made and one that has certainly given her fulfillment.

It was the little doubt in her head that kept her wishing for old love and wondering, just wondering what it would have been like if he had lived? What would their babies look like, what would they do? Would they run around Spira, happily searching for the next great adventure?

Would he continue with his Blitzball career? I think even Beclam would have serious competition with her Tidus. She did it again, "Her Tidus", as if it's the most natural thing in the world. Rikku and Paine decided to pop in and visit her today. It was such a relief to see two familiar faces. Paine with her new look, the mighty warrior that she was, armed in titanium armor and head plate to boot, took it off when she saw the two babies there lying in the large basinet.

"Ohh, my, Yuna, you certainly have changed. A mother of two beautiful babies and you've certainly put away those urges."

Paine picked up one baby while Rikku giggled and jumped for joy. Nothing seemed to keep Rikku's spirit down, no matter what the circumstance, even the time when they were searching for the hidden past of Paine's crimson squad days; Rikku had been so afraid, more afraid than Yuna had ever seen her. But today, Rikku is smiling and cooing at the babies.

"Yuna, you won't believe what we found searching around Macalania woods yesterday!"

Yuna held her breath. "What?"

"We found a broken sphere under the waters of Macalania!"

"Really?" A broken sphere usually meant that it would be unrepairable and useless. Yet the way Rikku went on, you'd think that it was the greatest thing in the world.

"Yes! And the best part, is that it looks like one of Tidus's spheres"

Yuna stopped in her tracks. Her hand immediately went to her throat. This certainly was an unusual day for her. Their visits usually consisted of fiend activity discussion where they had to take care of its elimination or that Brother's ship had been stranded once or twice in Bikanel and in the Ruins of Djose Highroad. But the spheres they usually found were spheres of the near past. Spheres that had belonged to some of the old inventors of the Al Bhed race.

For Rikku and Brother this was a good find. For Paine, it was just the glory of being able to fight and find her past. She told Yuna five years ago that it was time to put the past behind but it seemed as if it was Yuna who had done that and Paine never did let go.

"Are you sure, Rikku?" Yuna was out of breath. She couldn't believe that after five years, she would hear his name again. He came in and out of her dreams a few years ago but she determinedly told herself that it was not doing her any good chasing dreams and the past. So she took a step ahead and married Baralei. She didn't even know if he loved her but he deeply respected her and that was enough for her. Her heart would always belong to Tidus and her babies now.

Paine looked at Rikku with a glare, holding the baby in her arms, she barked up, "Rikku! Now

you'll get Yuna's hopes up."

"Oh." Yuna turned pink. "Did I appear a bit eager?"

"Humpf," was Paine's reply.

Rikku giggled, "I'm sorry, Paine, but I thought Yuna should know. This was an incredible find!"

"But Rikku, the sphere is broken and it's worthless. I appreciate that you tried to give me these

news but I'm afraid they're empty news for me."

"Not anymore, Yuna."

"Oh dear, here we go again." Paine rolled her eyes.

Yuna looked from one familiar face to the other, wondering what her friends were up to.

"What is it? What are you not telling me?"

"You might as well know." Paine replied smoothly, setting the baby down and picking up the

other, who started to squeal in delight. "Oh my you're a handful aren't you? Your babies look

just like their handsome father."

"Might as well know what?" Yuna asked eagerly, feeling the tug of guilt at the mention of Baralei

and their children. Even she convinced herself that Baralei wouldn't mind her chasing her own

past even when she thought it was set back.

Rikku squealed just like the children, "Shin has figured out how to fix broken spheres!"

Yuna's eyes widened. Figures Shin would determinedly figure how it would work but how?

Without the other pieces to complete the sphere, how can he do that?

Yuna's mind reeled. What would this prove anyway? To see Tidus's face again? To hear his voice? The last time she heard his voice and saw his face, it was another in his stead that acted, looked, appeared like him a thousand years before.

Setting aside her feelings for five years hasn't changed that. Being a responsible mother and Praetess of New Yevon has not stopped the memories from flowing. She even brought her children to Zanarkin, having Isaaru lead her around its ancient ruins and buildings, hoping that her children would feel the feelings of lost love that she felt. Perhaps this was going too far but being with Tidus was one of the happiest memories.

Paine folded her arms and lifted a dark brow, "You know Shin, the little know-it-all, he figured out a way to synthetically implant a similar sphere to fit its twin. He's been trying for five years and it's paid off."

Rikku sat next to the stunned Yuna, "Yeah, and know what, Yuna, we experimented with one of the old spheres by braking it off and then he fitted a new sphere artificially by, er….uh…"

Rikku wasn't much of a thinker so she looked at Paine for more information.

"In other words, Shin developed a revolutionary way to operate from just the broken sphere and use it's signature to copy from whence it was unbroken."

Yuna still looked at Paine for more information but Paine shrugged, "That's all I know. You'll have to ask Shin for details on how he figured out the rest."

"No…no….that's fine." Yuna's voice faltered. Then her eyes lit up. "Then we'll have to go to see it won't we?"

Rikku laughed, "That's the spirit, Yuna, let's! We decided not to look at it before you did."

Yuna felt somehow relieved and grateful. Her two friends have always been so loyal and

thoughtful. "Thank you."

"So, if you leave and come on the ship, and search out spheres with us, more of Tidus's spheres,

you think Baralei won't mind?" Rikku mused.

Yuna laughed, "Rikku, what about my children? I can't drag them around a ship whilst we re live my sphere hunting days."

"Ohhh poopie."

Paine held her hand beneath her chin and snapped her fingers, "I got it! Why don't we leave the children with Lulu? Dýou think she'd mind?"

"Oh no, I don't think I can do that to her."

Rikku jumped up from the bed, "Oh come on, Yuna, all you do is this boring Praetess job. It can't be all that much fun."

"Well, no it isn't but the people count on me especially when Baralei is off on an exhibition."

"Where's he off to now? He's always gone. Doesn't he like to stay with you?" Paine mused.

"Well, it's not like that at all, Paine. He's just busy."

Paine rolled her eyes. "I've known Baralei and the other two boys for a long time and believe me, settling down are the furthest thing from all their minds. I still can't believe that Baralei and you got hitched. I thought there was some kind of mistake."

"Yeah, Yunie! We thought you were possessed by Pyreflies!" Rikku giggled.

"Well, we have an agreement." Yuna whispered, avoiding eye contact with her friends and felt the redness well up in her cheeks at the thought of Baralei and their intimate moments.

Paine snorted and replied sarcastically, "What? He gets you in bed whenever he wants and he can go off to wherever New Yevon diplomats ask him to?"

Yuna wasn't put off by Paine's bluntness, in fact, she was quite used to it but it still irked her that she hit too close to home all the time. "Paine, he is my husband."

"Yeah yeah, save it for later, Yuna. Now do you want to come or not? Besaid Island is a bit of a long way but if we leave now, we can get there by lunchtime."

Yuna looked around her bed chamber, the round velvet drapery that hung from the ceilings and partially hid the great bed, the dressers in which shone colorful Bevelle colors and adorned moving pictures of her children from when they were born to their two year old selves. She took a deep breath and replied, "Okay, but first I must consult my officers of my leave."

Paine and Rikku nodded and walked out. Leaving Yuna with preparations for the babies to get ready, at least to stay for a week at Besaid Island. Yuna had taken care of Lulu's baby a couple times when Wakka and Lulu had to take vacations across Spira. I'm sure Lulu wouldn't mind since Lulu offered to care for the babies whenever the need arises for Yuna. This was the time.

It has been too long for Yuna.

It's time to go search for Tidus and a glimpse of his presence. She packed up what she could find and spoke to the head officers, leaving them directions to find her in Besaid if they needed, or the commsphere on the ship.

Taking one last look at her home, this great big chamber, she took a big sigh and hoped that

Baralei wouldn't mind. Without a backward glance, she left the chamber in a flurry of excitement that beat in her chest.

The commsphere Baralei left her lay glinting on top of the chest drawers.


	2. Chapter two: Baralai and the past

Yuna had always felt a little strange around Baralai after he had been a willing victim to Shuyin's manipulation. It was not easy taking control of his worst emotion: hate. It was really easy for Shuyin to enter the body of Nooj years before because Nooj was on a rampage to kill himself off, not brave enough to do himself in. Yet, he might as well go with a bang and fight for the side of the good.

Fight the good fight.

He only had himself to hate. It was the hatred in Baralai that had consumed him two years before and that hatred had grown into a monumental quest, and was easily taken over by Shuyin. He had a more viable purpose because he was the Praetor of New Yevon and Vegnagun had been hidden within its stony depths. Yuna still couldn't feel completely sane around him. He was ever the most polite person you could ever meet, much so opposite than his friend Gippal.

Was it, because his thoughts that made him so unreachable?

What was he thinking about that made him so unreachable? They were in Bikanel Island when it happened. It was, to say the least, expected: there was another catastrophe, and it seemed as if cataclysmic events would forever send people together, in more interesting ways than one could imagine. Yuna wanted to find out what made her new friend so interesting, why she felt fidgety, panicky around him. It was so out of character for her to feel the way she did, but ever since he has splendoured much attention on her, giving her distance, yet giving her the kind of charming sweetness that any man could display on a woman, made her feel quite unlike herself. Nooj seemed altogether so forward and brash, straight forward more like it yet wasn't he was tied to Leblanc who would not give up on him?

She loved him with all her heart and to think that she didn't even have one, the way she goes about. Her thoughts went back to Baralai. The rest of the team hid out in the camps, going through the island's secret places.

There was always something to be discovered in Spira. Even a thousand years of searching would not uncover the hidden depths that so plague even researchers who spend their lifetime searching. She watched him that evening, when the stars showed the flickering depths of the constellations. And the shooting stars made their way across the globe.

Whatever was roiling around in his brain left him nearly ballistic. She rationalized crazily. He's acting too weird. There has to be something more to it… Yuna cleared her throat, carrying on with the one-sided conversation, simply because she didn't know what else to do. "…Once there, after meeting with them, I can search through one side of the district and you could examine through the other—"

Suddenly, something did catch his attention. His eyes widened. He swore, coming to life. Yuna watched in growing unease as he sat up in his seat, frowning in alarm at the panel, to the desert, back to the panel…

"What is it?" she asked.

"Sand storm, Yuna. Heading right for us."

"No." she gasped. She knew sandstorms that hit Bikanel and they weren't tame, and they consumed their victims down deep into the sea of sand. She just hoped that it wasn't the sandstorm that hit Bikanel years before, when the entire community of Al Bheds were buried underneath its granulated grave.

Her head swiveled forward, and she squinted at the horizon. The sun-baked fantasy-like image warbled several kilometers away, and above it far above the blonde distant sky. She frowned, feeling utterly helpless, "A storm? I don't..." The mirage pitched like an upswing of a blade, fanning red, and yellowing the horizon, and the slice of movement she believed to be a part of its illusion, grew pregnant, round and contracted. It burst through the mirage like a rampaging cactuar, sending sparks of a thousand needles, the faintness now taking on a new structure. She held her breath, and adrenaline sharpened her senses as she observed the large spread of the systematic uproar, to the east, the west, northward and heading straight for them. "Oh…Oh no--"

He swore under his breath again, quickly pushing his silver hair back with a flick of his wrist, and concentrating all his efforts at his task.

"I thought you…checked the weather conditions, I mean, didn't you? It's, coming this way," she rambled, sounding completely and utterly stupid, but she was afraid. For the first time, in a long time, she was afraid. "Didn't you check the weather with Nhadala?"

"I didn't." He replied harshly, even for her ears, it seemed so out of his character, but this was a very heated position they were both in and both could not fault the other for being so quipped about it. She stared back at the horizon, then looked at him again.

She could only gape at him dumbfounded, her breath catching, "You what?…"

It wasn't like him to do that. He was always so meticulous. Always. Why was he so careless? Should she blame it on that? Was it her presence that made him act like this? The way she kept on thinking it was this way, made her feel a bit overblown and overzealous of their strained relationship. Even if it was any kind of relationship. The others went to the other camps while she and Baralai for some unknown reason had stuck together. Paine, Rikku and Nooj went off the the Central expanse, while Gippal and his Al bhed crew went to the Northen expanse, where the Ruins of undiscovered treasures were guarded by various fiends.

The imminent wave of unearthed desert and ferocious winds had just seemed to cover a mile in the last few seconds. Twice the size in her peripheral vision. She'd heard of sandstorms this big, burying entire cities, entire houses, gulping them up into the ground, at least as far as under 15 feet of gravel. It was going to be on them in a matter of minutes, and it was relentless. "Can we outrun it with this small flying hover?" she asked hopefully.

"No. It can't be outrun." Baralai ducked down, scanning first their surroundings proactively, and then slammed violently on the breaks. The hover slowed to an abruptness, and with the hovercrafts propellers nearly stinted, they could actually hear the rumbling, rescinding sounds of the impending disaster. The floor was even quaking. Yuna's palms began to sweat. Another mile. Crossed.

She felt deliriously ill. "It'll be on us in a matter of seconds…"

Not answering, Baralai hopped out of the hovercraft vehicle with a resolute expression, and dropped to his knees, slamming his fists into the sand. Energy started to exude and crackle about him, his face showing visible signs of straining...

He's trying to raise a barrier, a magical barrier, one of his talents! She realized this with clarity, as the twisting gravelly ground in front of him adhered to itself like a forming stalagmite, becoming huge and hard as a rock, and raising out of the ground like a small geyser. It shadowed them quickly, speckled with holes.

"Do something, Baralai or we'll be tipped over!"

He grunted, and the forming rock wall angled sharply. Almost too sharply. There was no time for perfection. Granules propelled by intense hundred mile winds started pelting viciously her face, and arms creating red welts underneath her protective sleeves. Her gloved hands tried to block the sharp granules that boomeranged off of her. The clear sky above them darkened, eclipsed by airborne particles. Yuna hissed and tried to cover her person and she was less concerned about herself. "Baralai!"

"Get out of the hover!" he shouted.

She reacted immediately, trying to push the door open against the air pressure, but it resisted.

Assessing danger was her job, but the force of this natural element was beyond her experience.

She squinted through the sand to see Baralai frantically motion for her to join him with one hand while the other was still erecting the shelter. There were only a few yards between them, but it suddenly seemed like miles.

How am I going to reach him in time?

Her stomach flipped with unrest, Yuna tried climbing over the door, foolishly squaring her shoulders to the winds in the process – but they caught her with a retribution, and ripped her out of the hovercraft, tossing her in a dizzying vortex away from her safety. It stole her breath before she could even scream.

The last thing on her mind was that she should have done something. She had let Baralai take care of the situation, just like she did years before with Tidus.

The mapped globe of Spira and its neighboring components, the distant islands and depths floated in a luminous cerulean hologram above the steel-caged panel. It was turning, angling, and magnified as Baralai watched intensely, eyes narrowing, the next simulated headway of Spira. The taint and sin that haunted Spira. It was a slow progression but the visual taunted him. Made his heart hurt. He was a genius. But he didn't know how to deal with her, much less the disease that plagued Spira. But first, to deal with his feelings. Another sporadic distress attack tightened his chest.

He grimaced, shoving those feelings away as his fingers tapped harshly on the computer panel, blipping the hologram about, andpulling up raw numbers on its contents. The cursed file was no different from the rest. Yuna was saturated with it. Spira and Yuna needed to be restored to health. But at the moment there was no immediate treatment and the chances of him inventing one in time… damn, he was no scientist. He was only fit to lead and to govern….

He didn't even know where to begin… Another set of frustrated tears leaked out of his eyes, and he carelessly wiped them away. The light of the panel was starting to make him see dots, and his peripheral vision blackened. They'd been back a day and a half, and he'd spent the entire time up here in a blind panic, searching…

"There you are!"

Nerves raw, Baralai jumped and swiveled towards the door as Yuna came bursting through it with her hands in fists. The circles under her eyes had started to darken, and she looked paler, less frightened, and more irate than when he saw her last. Her pacing was slightly uneven as she marched up to him, and he reflexively stood to steady her, but she jabbed her finger in his chest, making him sit back down.

She was still a fighter, despite her condition. In the days that lay ahead, her life spirit would prolong to recede… Not even the death of her departed dream would bring her an early grave and for that, Baralai was deeply thankful, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"Will you stop looking at me like I'm dead?" she laughed half heartedly, leaning forward to roughly rub the tears off his cheeks. He let her. His jaw hung part open, as his miserable face tilted back to meet hers. Thoughts of losing her wouldn't dislodge from the forefront of his mind, and the regrets came pouring forth, unchecked. He didn't want to lose any of his friends. Not ever. The memories of years before with Gippal, Nooj, and Paine were one of the most happiest and if he could just keep the friends he had then, and the ones he made now, like Yuna, who made him feel different...then...If only I'd listened to her beforehand he told himself and rested before edifying the oasis. I would have noticed. If only I'd checked up with Nhadala first for sandstorms…..but-

"I know you're sorry. Yes, you should have listened. And I'm angry with you, alright?" she smiled, wagging a finger in his face.

"…I'm trying to find something, Yuna. I have to find a cure for you, create one," his voice wavered, and his jaw muscles jumped. "I can't bear the thought of anything that could jeopardize--"

"I know that. I understand that. But if these last few tolerable days are spent being robbed of your presence while I still have the capacity to enjoy it, then I'll be a damn bitter ghost."

His vision blurred again. He didn't even try to hide it from her. She was his salvation for some nameless reason. Something that seemed predictable and he didn't want to question anymore. He spent the rest of his youth and the small part of his maturity thinking up reasons why this and that had to happen. He wanted to stop thinking and just feel. His inability to cope with this was overwhelming. She grabbed him to face her, supported his face up to face her and kissed him. He made a small, startled noise against her mouth, and she plunked in his lap before he could start apologizing again, and caged him against the back of his chair.

Yuna felt different, as if the sandstorm had changed her, or the constellations above sparkled with some kind of secret agenda. There was something different in the air that night, and after thestorm there was the great calm. They were either in the eye of the storm or that the eye of the storm were…themselves, trapped together in eternity, forever held like a crystal globe, a hologram of myriad confusion and unending ungrowth. It was something Yuna never ever did in her life; boldness was only a quality she presented when she fought with her friends, but this was another kind of boldness that extended far beyond her capability to understand. She felt love, the kind that she felt with Tidus years before and the one that kept on beating in her heart. The memory of Tidus and his dream. Her only love. For now, the feel of Baralai here in the middle of the Oasis made her feel alive.

She thrived in distracting him from his one track mind, and his hands gradually found her waist as he relived the closeness that was still so new between them. When his limbs had relaxed, she moved her lips to his ear and spoke with a soft desperation that made him buckle. "Will you be able to love me in the days that remain?"

A choked whisper. "Yes."

"Then let's get married."

His eyes widened, grateful for the desert storm, grateful for this moment. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he nodded.


	3. Chapter three: the present time

Baralai' gaze fixed on the computer-generated panel in front of him. The popup of the next city's geography was detailed, with 3-D dimensions, and clusters that showed its densest residencies, along with well-plotted paths that lead to the population's generators and quick ways back out.

The markings were brightly colored, easy to read. They just needed a quick replication programmed in.

He blinked disinterestedly. If he'd been focused, he would have finished it 45 minutes ago and would be handpicking his crew for the next raid by now. But he wasn't focused. Far from it, actually. He missed Yuna terribly and he's stuck here doing his job, which he never complained before. It was actually an honour to work beside the old teachings of Yevon, to combine the old and the new. Yuna never did approve the old teachings but she accepted what was due of her.

He had gotten her pregnant a little too early and he didn't want to upset her with their beliefs. Yuna would remind him of her old friends Dona and Barthello who had differences of opinions, albeit stronger than hers. Yuna told him over and over how she wasn't really in any group but

that she would remain neutral but that didn't stop her from speaking her mind of the atrocities of Yevon's dark secret that nearly destroyed the world.

Yuna's words came haunting back. He tilted his head back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.

Baralai felt his chest tighten with regret like it usually did when he reflected back on that impetuous desperate action that had cost the lives of thousands of people who lived in Spira.

Years back when he was possessed by Shuyin. It wasn't entirely Shuyin's fault really, it was him to blame for he hated so much that he was a willing victim to destroy the world with Shuyin.

Being possessed was a terrible feeling. One can only feel the hate being multiplied and fed. As if he didn't feel anymore other than that emotion and that was what drove him. When Yuna had asked him to marry him years before, he felt elated. It was the responses from his friends that were a bit surprising. Nooj and Gippal congratulated him and Gippal, in his usual way, teased him:

"You get the High Summoner on her back and already you're on your way to getting her knocked up with babies. What a way to go. Lucky bastard."

Gippal continued as he shook his head with laughter. "And I thought I'd be the one where all Spira's fathers would come running for shot gun weddings for knocking up their daughters."

Nooj scoffed a reply at Gippal. "Don't kid yourself, Gippal. You may get a lot of girls but you aren't that good."

"OH! This comes from the mouth of Noojie Woojie." Gippal and Baralai both laughed at that.

"Watch it, or you'll be facing more than just shot gun weddings at your back." Nooj growled back.

"Listen you two." Baralai cut in with his usual diplomatic approach, "I can't decide who would stand by my side at my wedding. You both have been great friends."

"If you have to ask, I've never went against you, Baralai, not like some Mevyn guy." Gippal shifted his eyes with glittering amusement over at Nooj.

"Humpf, make a mockery out of me, go on. But I've offered to save Baralai's ass from Shuyin's possession."

Gippal widened his eyes and laughed, "Oh-ho! Yeah right. You're willing to shoot his body down and hoped that he'd survive!"

Baralai interrupted before the tension between his two friends would blow out of proportion,

"You know, I think I'd make a new edict that under extreme conditions, a man can have two best men by his side at his wedding."

"Sounds like a plan to me, Baralai." approved Gippal. Nooj on the other hand nodded  
complacently but not without his usual comment, "I would be most honoured as well, but are you not taking your Praetor duties with too much power? Giving a decree for weddings as well?

Saying that I make new rules for my Youth League group and going overboard with their fanaticism is just a bit much don't you think?"

Gippal gave Nooj a scathing look. Baralai wasn't usually bated by Nooj's off handedness.

Instead, he smiled and nodded in return, "Touche. I have a right to make this a special decree.

A union between the high summoner and myself."

"Yes, former high summoner, or did you forget?"

At that instant, fiends had approached the trio, making their bodies tense for battle, forgetting the moment between them. The conversation never did come back up afterwards.

Baralai drifted back to the present from his thoughts.

"Must be very serious to wear such an expression like that."

He startled at Maechen's voice, the familiar old voice that usually came to visit Yuna at the most inopportune moment. There was one time in which he appeared in their bedroom and he nearly wanted to clog him a couple of rounds. Not that that was Baralai's method but that his alone time with Yuna was too intimate for other prying eyes to see, even if it were the unsent. Don't the unsent know the meaning of privacy?

Yuna, however was very fond of the old man and that she wanted to send him. But he wanted to stay on for a little while until he could accumulate enough information. Enough information for what, Baralai thought. It'd better not be anymore gathered information between him and Yuna in their private time. The thought gave him a grimace.

Baralai sat bolt upright in his chair. "What are you doing? Is there something I can do for you?"

He searched around for his men and they were on patrol so whatever brought Maechen over to see him had better be important.

"Young man, I thought I'd tell you a story," came the ancient voice. Baralai stared at him for a moment, giving this some consideration.

"Alright. What would you like to tell me this time?"

"Don't mind if I do," the words came out smoothly, despite its droning melody. "There was once upon a time where two lovers met and finally fell in love. This happened a thousand years ago."

"Which one? Yunalesca's past or Shuyin's and Lenne's?" Baralai replied quickly, with a white brow lifted at the old man.

Maechen chuckled easily, the ancient eyes twinkled, continuing, "A man who looked so much like Shuyin and a girl who lived in another time and place. They could have never met you see? But the coming of Sin brought them together. This was the young man's gift to his only son, the son he never got to get close to."

"Your point?" Baralai replied smoothly.

"I won't continue if you don't want me to, Baralai but I thought this would be of great interest to you because it concerns your Yuna. And I have a great investment in this as well. I care very much for Yuna and I don't want her to be hurt."

"What are you talking about?" Now confusion marred the younger man's face. His heart beat a little faster. What was this old man up to? Yuna and another man who lived 1000 years before? Yuna had told him about some man who was his guardian, who was an unsent but he was more than an unsent, he lived among the living. Fought among the living and loved her with all his heart. He got that last information from Rikku.

"Shall I continue?"

"Yes, of course."

"I know that Yuna has a slow disease that connects her to Spira. As long as Spira lives, she

lives but Spira is dying somehow. The calm is among us, thriving well but there will be a conclusion to all this."

"I've been searching for cures all over Spira. This exhibition isn't just about New Yevon's diplomatic affairs but rather, secretly, it's about finding clues to save Yuna." Baralai whispered the last words, his head bowed down slightly. His blue eyes stung at the back, the strong fists held at his side at the frustration of finding it.

The old man nodded, acknowledged the pain that visibly showed in Baralai's face.

"As I can see that Yuna has found someone like you to love her. You do love her right?"

"I do not know what love is, but what I feel for Yuna is so powerful, it's more powerful than the hate I felt when I was under Shuyin's possession."

"This story, well, it's one of the greatest love stories of all time, if one can call it that. A love story between a dream and a powerful Summoner whose bloodlines run back as far as Bevellés most honoured families. Yuna was born in Bevelle you know that?"

"There isn't much I don't know about her, well, except for this mysterious man who claims to look like Shuyin, the one who caused all grief 5 years before."

Instead of continuing his story, Maechen gave him a visual. "Forgive me, Praetor of Bevelle, but I must hurry this story so look here." He gave him a sphere, glowing red, vibrating with unknown energies.

It was the first time he had been able to visually see something other than the imagination he'd use by listening to one of Maechen's story.

He heard a whistle.

_The moons were out…bright enough to silver his profile. His easy-on-the-eyes profile, with  
an expression that bore no ill will, or hard edge. Just a tremendous sadness. She almost_

didn't recognize him. "Tidus?"

_He said nothing. Eyes still transfixed on some random point outside the window, he didn't even look at her. Her bare feet whispered across the grass as she ran up to him, her heart in her throat. "Are...are you okay?" she cried more than asked, stopping on the bare edge of his personal space. Up close, she saw the salt lines on his cheeks, and puffiness of his eyes._

His chest heaved with a deep sigh, and he finally met her stare. She held her breath. There

was a light snort - a dim remnant of his former self. "I'm not crazy, if that's what you

mean," he replied in a raspy voice.

_Yuna hiccupped, and the tears she'd just barely managed to get under control, came pouring back. Before she thought to stop herself, she fell on him, too damn relieved to care about how many unspoken rules she was breaking between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face in his chest. "I was so worried," she sobbed in a choked whisper, wetting his bosom with her tears. "I couldn't reach you. I tried. For days, I tried! I was afraid you'd never come back..."  
_  
Baralai scanned the horizon. This was in the farplane. He could almost feel their love, as if

he was the one who was witnessing something too private.

_Two startled breaths had ruffled her hair. His muscles tensed at her affection, and she could feel his heartbeat quicken. He obviously had no idea what to do with her, but Yuna almost enjoyed his discomfort, because it meant that he was still him. She waited in anticipation for his embarassed protest. But it didn't come._

Tidus shifted awkwardly, but after a few seconds, he finally gave up on trying to wriggle free, and rested a tentative hand on her shoulder. "-Yuna..."

"What?"

"You did reach me."

Her eyes widened. "You heard me?"

"You promised me you'd protect me always."

_"Ah! You heard me! Yes, I'll always protect you."_

The young blonde man was quiet for a moment, letting his memory tickle the edges of her mind...of a dark, vast place. Of shackles, conflict, and hovering insanity. Then a light...a light embodying her voice. Her blood ran cold. That's where you were? In that place?

She felt him shiver. "Mm. Though I don't..." his voice hitched, and he tried again, "I don't understand why you wanted me back so bad."

"You're my only love. How can I not?" Yuna's reply came so lovingly.  
  
It was enough to send Baralai's teeth grinding. With his usual cool demeanor, he'd never felt

such awful jealousy. She obviously feels more for this Tidus than she'd ever given him. To feel those feelings from her, it was too cruel for him.

"Enough." Baralai grated out.

"But you haven't seen the rest of the sphere."

"I don't want to. Please. I need to be alone."

"You may lose Yuna if you don't act now, Baralai." The ancient unsent was deadly serious.

"If she loved him more than she does me. Why? I don't understand."

"How noble you are, Baralai. To give Yuna the love she had lost, or rather she felt, but never attained. What she has with you is real. With Tidus, it's a dream."

"So what am I suppose to do? Stop her from loving him? Preposterous! I could never do that."

Baralai's voice became constricted, the pain in his heart seemed to tear at him.

"No. Never, of course. It's not that you should do but that you should pay close attention to where her disease lies. She's closer to death than you realize. She's such a young lady with two beautiful children you gave her. Do you want her to throw that all away?"

"What am I do to, old man?" there was desperation in Baralai's response.

"Why...love her. Save her."

He disappeared. Leaving Baralai to stare at the empty space in which the unsent occupied just moments before.

CONTINUED.


	4. Chapter four: Saving Yuna

_Notes: This is basically a complete Yuna/Baralai plot with no other pairing except for Tidus/Yuna past storyline. Most characters from FFX-2 will be mentioned in interaction with the two main characters. Pardon the spacing._

**CHAPTER FOUR: Saving Spira or Yuna.**

Brother always had a crush on Yuna. They were cousins, sure, but that didn't mean he didn't feel completely awed by Yuna's gentle beauty and grace. Or that she was one of the most powerful summoners to grace Spira. She was definitely out of his league and even more so when the news hit him years before, the day Yuna would marry. Cid and himself were still on a very rocky relationship. They've always been so hotheaded that you couldn't put both of them in the same room without some kind of viotile argument. It's enough to send Rikku with eyes rolling and foot stamping at the spectacle they sometimes made. It was easier to bear when they gave eachother the silent treatment. At least for those outsiders like Paine, Buddy, Shin, and Yuna. Rikku, on the other hand hated it and she felt like throwing something at both of them.

Brother maintained a more strained and respectable distance from Yuna. He no longer acted like some fool on au unrequited love affair that he wished. He wished so many things. He was able to be one of the best engineers of the Al bhed factions and community. He created the ship that was able to go top speed, faster than Cid's old air craft, and that was a difficult feat to be sure.

Even when the news that she'd marry a Yevonite made him sulkier. Rather he hoped that Gippal, the no good Leader of the machine factions would take Yuna than Baralai, at least, he thought, he was an Al bhed and not a Yevonite. He had to stop himself and remember that Yuna was at least half Yevonite, being born in Bevelle, and had grown up in Besaid island. Her family took took refuge there and gave Yuna a more comforting and loving atmosphere to grow up in. It wasn't that Brother was a prejudice person, no, that wasn't it. He just disliked how the Yevonites had completely taken control over the world with their temple worshipping, their connection with the Fayths and kept too many secrets. He didn't understand why such a a race would want to keep such secrets. The Al bheds were always good for giving out their secrets and building machines to sell to both sides. It was good to see Yuna today, Brother thought to himself. She was and is always beautiful. Even more so now with her babies there, both looking a little like her and with their father's hair color. Brother supposed this certain Yevonite Baralai was okay, even if he were the Praetor of Bevelle.

Yuna and Lulu were always happy to see each other. They gawked at each other's babies and wondered at the miracles they had helped produced into bringing them into this world. Lulu and Wakka were doing good as always for Lulu had the great patience to put up with Wakka's great indecision and somewhat slack of work ethics. But Wakka was a good man, a strong and loyal, loving and protective man so Lulu never minded. She had set aside her feelings for Chappu years before and glad that Wakka was there to comfort her. She knew that Chappu would always be smiling at the both of them and the creation of their now 5 year old boy.

Leaving her children for the first time, even for only a weeks worth was too much for Yuna to bear. She couldn't believe the motherly instincts she produced inside of her and she began to somewhat tear up.

"Yunie!" Rikku sat next to her on the ship. They had just left Besaid island and her babies with Wakka and Lulu and Yuna felt so guilty. She knew she shouldn't be. It would only be a week and besides, she would finally find traces of Tidus again. And the spheres that have been scattered. This time, she felt in her heart that Tidus was waiting for her to find her. Not like 5 years ago when she was hoping he'd find her.

Paine walked nonchalantly up to Yuna. "Maybe this'll make you feel better. Look."

She pointed over at what Shin was doing. Producing a moving image from the broken sphere. Yuna stopped her breath and looked up. She caught a glimpse of Tidus in the sphere. It was really him. She could tell. It wasn't like Shuyin this time. Not someone who looked like him.

"Oh my!" Yuna had her hand over her mouth and she was in utter disbelief. "It is him!"

Shin worked his fingers over the keyboard to punch in numerical Al bhed numbers that would interact with the sphere. He shook his head, "Sorry, that's all I could come up with. I'll let you know if I can do more with this."

"Oh don't be, Shin. You've really outdone yourself this time!"

Rikku was ecstatic! "Oh this is great news isn't it, Yunie? And it'll be like old times. You, me, and Paine scouring Spira and sphere hunting!"

Paine crossed her arms and with her deep voice, "Yuna, you know you have to start working out more. You've been too slack as a mother, which means your power and upgrades are basically downgrades. There's not much of a trace of a warrior in you that you had a few years back."

"No problem, Paine." Yuna beamed. "I've still got my magic abilities and they're strong as ever. Not to mention, I'm good with a gun." With that last remark, she blinked at them.

"True. True. Always the true marksmanship you are." Paine agreed with admiration. "Then leave the warrior skills to me."

"And the thieving and mixing grenades to me!" Rikku cried happily, her arm jolted up in the air to give Yuna their usual high five.

Yuna slept on that airship and it had been a long time that she felt the smooth purring of the tremulous engine beneath them. She didn't think she'd be able to sleep well away from her babies and even checked up on them every two hours. Finally, Lulu had to tell her over the commsphere in Besaid to enjoy herself and not worry a single thing. It was hard for Yuna to do that but her thoughts fled to Tidus again and the memory of him felt good in her mind. She slept good with dreams, the dreams that engulfed her with Tidus. He was there on the farplane, approaching her with pyreflies surrounding them. His blond hairs remained in place and the smile that lit his face made her heart flutter. He held her in a tight embrace, never wanting to let her go and she held him back, her arms enclosed around his much bigger body.

"Oh Tidus. I promise I'll find you this time. I thought—I thought," she gasped. "I thought that if I just searched for spheres that you'd find me. I realize now, that it was me who should be searching for you, not you to find me. You've always known where I am. But I never know where you are." Tears started to form in her eyes. She started to walk away, feeling his strong arms let go...

"Yuna!"

But to her surprise, he spun her around, grabbed her face in both hands, and kissed her. And kissed her and kissed her... The intimate warmth stole any remaining coherency from her mind. Hypersensitivity to his touch flooded her senses; the tangy warmth and wetness of his lips, the way his hands shuddered as they fell to hold her waist and hips, the dampness and folds of their clothes smashed between them... She lifted her face from his kisses and she saw another face, not Tidus, another in his place. Someone else she knew so well. But these slight differences, it didn't register in her mind, she felt that Tidus was him. That they were both merged and that somehow it felt natural.

The thrill overshadowed the initial learning curve. Her head lolled back and he nuzzled her neck. Her legs gave out, and he lifted her against him. Gasping, she choked out the name of the man whose face hovered over hers, whose lips possessed hers.

"I...I love you Baralai," she breathed, her tear ducts leaking with the confession. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "I love you..."

She could feel his thoughts. His movements. Everything about him felt as if they were one.

Yuna had felt him stiffened, wondering if she was saying this to him or him. Baralai hated that other person invading their thoughts, she knew. She knew this all too well. Not this invisible dream that was all too real for her and the rest of Spira. If it weren't for him, Yuna may have died along with Spira. She may have saved Spira, but not without the help of her lost love. Can pretending help? Was she being comforted in his arms when her longing was for the other? He brought trembling hands up to cradle her face, kissing her mouth three times before pulling back to look at her. Yuna's eyes fluttered open, and her breath caught. There wasn't a trace. Not one...of angst, regret, self-loathing, inner conflict... Just half-lidded sapphire eyes crinkled in a contented warmth. His mouth opened and closed twice in unformed words, then his brow lifted in the center in a sort of elated disbelief.

Baralai was happy. And when he was happy, he was breath-taking, Yuna thought. She didn't even notice the slight concern he harbored in the back of his mind. He was just elated that they were locked like this. She suddenly felt shy and ridiculously inadequate, wondering how in the world she landed herself a guy like this. "That," she said through the haze of their chemistry, forcing her abrupt shyness into an eager grin, "is an expression I want to see on your face more often."

He exhaled in a light laugh. "I think you're going to." He rested his forehead against her brow, and then grew rueful. "I'm sorry it took me so long to let you see it."

"It's okay." She leaned forward to kiss him again, and then hesitated. In that half second before the attraction carried them away again, right before her eyes closed, a knot of unease formed in her chest, interrupting the bliss, leaving her with the impression that there was something important she'd forgotten.

He paused. "What is it?" he asked, sensing her alarm.

And then she noticed it. It wasn't as obvious in the sunlight as it was in the shade, but with the onset of dusk, she saw it again...the hue of his skin against the darkening sky. "Baralai," she said, pulling back and touching his face. "You're crying."

He smirked.

"No. Not metaphorically. Your eyes. I mean, they're wet."

She reached out and touched the slight tear from the corner of his eyes. Baralai never felt any compulsion to hide himself from her his feelings. He wanted her to feel what he felt all the time. He wanted her to know that she made him feel happy.

He frowned a confusion at her, and stepped back, holding his hand up between them, looking at it in perplexed inquiry. The tranquility left his expression and the moment was ruined as he in turn noticed what she was talking about. Yuna half-regretted bringing it up, but it wasn't normal. She was concerned.

"What does it mean?"

"Baralai..." she breathed again. Thoughts of once Tidus in her arms seem so distant and nothing mattered because he was here with her. Loving her. Making her feel alive.

"Baralai..."

"Yunie!" a familiar high pitched voice broke her dream. Yuna awoke with a start, seeing both Paine and Rikku staring at her from the side of her bed.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Was I saying something?" she feared that they'd know what was in her dreams. Somehow it seemed so secretive to her, that the familiarity of Tidus and Baralai was for her and her alone.

"You were calling for him."

"Who?" Yuna blushed crimson and turned her head away. "I didn't think I'd be such a noisy sleeper."

"You were calling for Tidus."

"W-what?" Yuna's perplexed expression concerned the girls.

Paine edged closer, "Yeah. What's wrong? You've always called out for Tidus once in awhile. Which is why all of us were surprised you went and got married to Baralai."

This can't be, Yuna cried in her head, I thought—she thought, that it was Baralai's name she called out for. It was his lips he felt in her dream, right after his visage merged with Tidus, transforming, changing, fitting her body the way only Baralai could.

"Oh dear." She whispered. "Are you sure I called Tidus's name out loud?"

"Clear as a whistle." Paine offered.

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. Chapter five: part 1&2 The Secret Sphere

She stared at her companions and attempted to tell them the truth behind her dreams.

"Yunie, you love Baralai!" Rikku's exclamation over that known fact sounded as if she couldn't believe it.

Paine smirked, "Really? You chose him over your rescuer? Who'd have thought?"

"I've never told you two the weight of my relationship with Baralai? How we have gotten close?"

Paine made another attempt at scoffing, "Well, considering that you two make glances at eachother like two school kids on their first date, it's easy to see that you had some kind of attraction. Baralai has his charms, to be sure, in fact all three of them are quite charming. It's just lucky for me that I'm not into guys."

Yuna and Rikku both looked at her in surprise. Rikku especially made a backward movement, her arms waving up and down excitedly, "Whoa! You mean, you..." She sputtered unladylike. "You mean you're a lesbian?"

"Get a grip, you two! You've never noticed? I hang out with three gorgeous guys during the crimson squad days and neither of them got me in the sack? Hah. I was too much of a guys girl if you know what I mean. Honestly, you two are thicker than Clasko's love for Chocobos."

Paine's last words were etched in frustration but she finally revealed her true self to them. It felt like a huge baggage had lifted off of her chest and she could finally be free to enjoy her sexuality with them. Rikku on the other hand was a bit uncomfortable. She spent so much time with Paine that she wondered if Paine had designs on her.

Paine noted her discomfort and laughed, "Rikku, you're not my type. So don't worry. You'll always be my bud though."

Rikku was both relieved and insulted. "Oh! Um, why am I not your type?"

"Too hyper for me."

This revelation gave Rikku something to ponder on. Then as if some light bulb lit up on her head as on many occasions she has been noted for, she confessed, "Yuna's your type!"

"Duh, Sherlock." Paine replied back with her eyes rolling heavenward.

Yuna blushed crimson and she nearly gasped out loud, "Oh my! I never knew, Paine."

"It was one of the reasons why I loved hanging around with you, Yuna. What can I say, you've earned major respect points and to tell you the truth, I'd always been in love with you, almost as much as Brother displays his crush but mine in a more subtle way."

"Why thank you, Paine...but..." Yuna was perplexed. First her dream, now Paine's new confession. It was all so much to take in.

Paine sat next to her on the bed. "Now tell us, what was it that you wanted to tell us about Baralai?"

"Well. Um." Yuna was displaying her shyness again and blushed deeply.

"No more secrets between the three of us. I've revealed my secret. Now it's time you tell us what's going on between you, Baralai and Tidus!"

"Yeah, Yunie! And I can tell you what is with me and Gippal!"

Both Paine and Yuna laughed, "Rikku, I thought you said nothing went on between you two."

"That's what you think!" Rikku giggled nervously.

Yuna began to feel much more at ease and she began her tale of how she and Baralai went to meet up in secret areas of Spira so that they can have their little rendezvous and make love.

"It's so difficult to tell you everything, but I have saved a sphere in one of our meetings. Would you like to see it? I mean, I'm not ashamed to show you two since we're all so close and there's nothing I want to hide from."

"A sphere! Of you and Baralai? Ooooh! Does it have any naughty scenes?" Rikku barked up excitedly.

"Well, no. Just intimate scenes but nothing too rated R or X."

"Ohhh poopie."

"Rikku!" Yuna scolded. "I'm not about to show that part!"

Paine sniffed, "It's because she's not getting any from Gippal right now."

"Hey!" Rikku yelled, "Don't say that!"

"Alright you two. I'm going to show you the sphere but I'm not sure how accurate it is because it's been a while...and well, just ...here."

Yuna produced a tiny sphere in her right palm and held it up for her friends to see. All her memories and feelings were there for them to feel, to understand. This way, they would know the extend of her love for both Baralai and Tidus.

_Yuna was quivering in a thick woolly sweater, stared down at her new flashy hiking boots that she managed to conjure from one of her dress spheres, which are now cooling on the pile of snow in the mountains of __mount __Gagazet__. She felt stiff and achy in the cold; her pangs of hunger threatened rebellion against an unwanted brunch and the metallic burden of acid pumped into her stomach linings. She should take one of the healing potions but she had left them on the ship. Now the cold mountain air seemed to thrill at her expense. A flurry of snow stung at her face, and the wind thrashed about, whipping her long brown hair. She had let her hair grow a bit and now it is at the length that passed the middle of her back. Maybe as long as Lenne's was. She could be mistaken as Lenne too._

_Her body heat dissipated rapidly into the icy cold. She lifted eyes haunted with dark circles to stare into horizon of what is called Fayth Scar. She had fought her way up here alone and lifted her boots to make more tracks upon fresh snow. The Ronso were used to this weather and it suited them best. Even those who traveled around Spira could not stay away from their precious mountain. Some have even made their home up here at Fayth Scar. Her thin frame now shuddering in waves from the dry cold, she remembered his kisses with feeling and what had started as a token attempt at rebellion had gotten out of hand; he'd put it right with his courteous, reassuring normal reaction. Baralai was her balance wheel, and has been for several years. Her touchstone. He was here, somewhere up in Fayth Scar. _

_A frostlike pattern of snowflakes fell in unison in front of her and if she calculated her footsteps circumspectly, she'd be in Fayth Scar in no time. Kimahri was in Guadosalam for two days to settle social relationships between the Guados and his clan. It was a step into the right direction. Trommell had first made the trek a couple years ago to try and make a relationship with the Ronso's but that didn't really fare too well. The scars of the Ronso's dead were still crying out for vengeance and hurts never really go away. Hopefully this visit will be a successful one and with Kimahri as elder, he'd always make it his business to insure peace among his people. _

_The mountain harbored many secrets and one of them were the hot springs above, the waterfall of steamy water came crashing down on the large cavernous hole that held the water in a bowl like presence, and many visitors came to relax at such a tempting site. Yuna climbed up the steepness of the mountain's crevices, making the best of her agility and fortitude and the strength of her new black hiking boots that made her look somewhat fetching. She had a pair of gloves on to ward off the cold and a trusty blade attached at the back. Disarming several fiends a long the way was no problem but as she continually made her way up, a nice charm bracelet was convenient for peace from intruders. _

_She walked into the alcove of the __hot springs__, and then that's where she saw him. He turned, as if he was expecting her. _

_"Yuna." He breathed, his blue eyes lit up and made a move towards her. _

_Her throat was suddenly too tight to answer. Determined not to be intimated by his charm, she swallowed and stood in response. She felt herself fully and confidently encircled by his arms as he moved her into a more intimate and seductive embrace. It complicated her concentration as she tried not to feel so much of his body. She came her for a reason and just because his lips softly touched hers, played with her tongue, tasted her, made her feel like liquid among the hazy fog of the steaming water around them, she could fight this; gently pushing at his chest. _

_"What is it?" the concern in his face evident in the guarded blue eyes. Baralai loved to hold her, touch her, and despite her thin build she was softly full and pliant in front, her back firm to his touch. Surprisingly, always so right. He was careful now not to hold her too close but in the contact of their bodies he felt her tension and was surprised. _

_"So, is this what you expected?" he asked after a short pause. _

_She looked up at him, tears welled in her blue-green eyes, clearly confused and unable to read his meaning, then looked away. So, the tension was a response from him. "When you came up here, I mean." _

_He tried to break into her silence. "The cold, the scenery?" _

_"Baralai, please, don't tease. I wanted to see you but..." she faltered. How could she tell him? _

_"But what?" _

_Okay. So she hadn't expected the first time to be easy but this hurt too much and she held back tears and shifted uncomfortably. She had to tell him that it was over between them. This could not go on. Baralai seemed to sense that, as he always did. He sighed and released his hold on her. "You don't have to tell me." _

_"Oh? I don't?" _

_"You came here to tell me that it's over right?" _

_Wordlessly she moved her mouth, but then bit them and walked away, facing the springs, breathing in the steam and letting her lungs get a blast of hot wet air. _

_"Is it Tidus? Again?" _

_She rolled her eyes and swung back to face him. "There you go again! Why is it that whenever we get around to speaking privately, you bring up Tidus!" _

_"Because you love him." _

_"He's but a dream, Baralai." _

_"Really? Could have fooled me. And the rest of Spira by the way." His voice lowered, to a near whisper and she could see the faint touch of anger behind his eyes, his jaw twitched at his clenched teeth. She knew he was trying to be patient with her and then he took a deeper sigh, ran a hand over his white silverly strands, slowly realizing that he was close to losing her. _

_"Alright. You may do what you want, Yuna. I can't hold your heart nor your body. You have always been your own person." _

_"Baralai!" her face was etched in deep concern. She saw him hurting there. But she knew that she had to end it because the future would hold too many memories of her and Tidus and this would be a gaping hole between them. _

_"What?" His face angry now. "You want something, Yuna? You want this before you leave?" _

_Baralai's arms went around her waist and his lips descended on hers. Her own body responded to his hands caressing her form in a possessive but gentle grip. She leaned into his deepened kiss and played with his tongue. The unmistakable heat spread through her body, signaling the inevitable. It would be a matter of seconds and her wits went flying. He breathed into her ear, after trailing a kiss along her cheek, "Take your clothes off." _

_"Baralai." She gasped aloud. "Here?" her mind was not registering that he wanted her naked but then when his hands expertly removed the top of her cashmere sweater, revealing her full breasts to his possessive hands, she awoke with some clarity. "No!"  
_  
"No!"

Yuna stopped the sphere. Both Rikku and Paine went, "Awwww! We're just getting to the good parts."

"Um, I didn't realize that this was a bit over PG rating."

"Yunie! It's not like we haven't done it ourselves! Do you think we're a bunch of kids?"

"I swear you two! This is private. I was only meaning to show kisses between us, not anything more personal than that!"

Paine was laughing aloud now, "Yuna, you're in love with Baralai and funny thing is, you can't make up your mind if feeling guilty for loving him is the result of your loyalty to Tidus. Or the other way around."

**CHAPTER SIX,PART TWO: Peek a boo**

"End of the discussion, Rikku."

Yuna was determined to put this to rest and go down to the bridge and have a bit of conversation with Buddy and Brother. She hadn't had much communication with them in awhile and Brother's still stinging from her marriage with Baralai.

While she was gone, Rikku and Paine looked at eachother and nodded, "you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"What, Rikku? I'm not going to sneak a peek into Yuna's private life." Paine had her arms crossed but her body movement leaned towards the sphere Yuna left behind on the bed. "Yuna must definitely trust us completely if she thinks we won't take a peek and you know what? I'm not going to disappoint her."

Rikku huffed, "That's because you're in love with her."

"And your point?" came the caustic reply.

"My point? It makes all the difference in the world. You think that by keeping her secret, you'll get a chance at Yuna yourself? That's not going to happen, Paine and you know it. So dream on!" Rikku confirmed with honesty, her hands pointing towards Paine in a preaching manner.

"Save it, Rikku. I know I don't have a chance in hell with her. Unless I get a dresssphere that makes me dress up like Baralai or Tidus." With those words, Paine pondered deeply. "Maybe if I can get Shinru to make me one…."

"Oh no you don't, Paine. That's violation of the Al bhed code section 248516.55"

"What?"

Rikku hopped onto the bed Yuna occupied awhile ago and she picked up the sphere. "Now, if you want to take a peek into Yuna's nakedness, then you'd better pay close attention, my friend."

Paine perked up at that remark and sighed, "How'd you get so wicked? You've definitely been hanging around me way too much, Rikku. Or that brother of yours has been rubbing off on you with his crazy talk of how he lost Yuna and how his heart has been breaking every single day."

Rikku paid no mind to her complaining friend and turned on the sphere….

Paine didn't object, for if there were signs of Yuna's nudity somewhere there, it was well worth a peek even if it did violate Yuna's privacy. It's just that it would only be this one time and there would be no one to tell her right? So that was what was on both their minds when they watched with anticipation….

_From the cave entrance, they couldn't be seen, two bodies locked in a torrid embrace. Baralai trailed his fingers gently along the swell of her thigh, absorbed in the hot-silk feel of her; he encountered pale pink, then the plunge of soft downy skin into the sudden hollow of her waist, abdomen smoothly taut under the tips of his fingers. He wanted her, always wanted her and if she's going to make her goodbyes, he'd make damn sure he'd give her want she wanted and denied herself. He'd never taken advantage of a woman and for sure he didn't want to start now, not without their consent but Yuna's responses were consent enough. There he encountered the undersides of her breasts, soft and warm through the shirt. He ached to slide his hand up under the fabric and feel the soft-firm roundness of her, possess the tantalizing peach-brown nipples he'd gotten familiar with, taste them and hear her moans and cries. He could never understand her own obsession with some damn dream guy that was the rift between them. If he could live with the fact that this Tidus was hers in dream only then he could remain impassive to that side of her in which she gave her heart to._

_A thin gray dawn crept through an overcast sky that day and with thelight came a fine mist of rain, gathering on the leaves of the foliage that was now growing around the edges of Fayth Scar. They spilled quietly onto the ground and splashing onto rocks at the entrance to the cave, wearing at the boulders in the process of centuries. High up on the side of the canyon, the coal-black dragon stared down with yellow eyes at the entrance, watching for intruders that had invaded his cave._

_"We're not alone, Baralai" Yuna whispered against his lips, feeling them trail down her neck while she looked up from the canyon of the __hot springs__._

_"Oh really? Then I suggest they get an eyeful of what's going to come because I've a mind to give them one." He continued with his lovemaking but Yuna pushed at him gently,_

_"Baralai, I'm serious. It's one of those dragons!"_

_"Another one? Shall I slay the dragon for you?" his lethargic lovemaking was making him heady and the consciousness of it didn't make him alert, until Yuna reflexively checked for her guns, found it in safety in place. The dragon's fire came at them, an initiative for the fiend but Yuna and Baralai had moved out of harm's way just in time, right before they heard the breath of flame extinguish out in the air._

_"What the hell is a dragon doing in the top of the springs?" Baralai retorted, more angry with the fact that this fiend decidedly interrupts them in the middle of something more prevalent._

_"It would explain why there are fewer visitors in the __hot springs__ these days." Yuna replied back with urgency, reloaded with a double barrel pot shot and took aim, shot back and hit the dragon's skin, penetrating it with minimal damage._

_"Allow me," cried Baralai, retrieving his Double Razor Ring Rod and threw the dragon a whipping drill shot, sending bullets deep within the skin of the fire breathing fiend. This allowed time for Yuna to reload a more deadly blow to the dragon and as the dragon took a more menacing approach, Baralai protected her with his body, sending the Rod he held swinging like a boomerang to the creature, breaking it's armor plate and the rod whipped back to Baralai's hand. The fiend on the other hand reached out with it's claw and damaged the young man in return but with no serious injury. Yuna took this time to take her target out and she did that with the trigger happy she used, glad that she had double strength charm bracelet on her left arm. The dragon went out like a light and the pyreflies flew out of it's body as it disappeared._

_"Well what do you know, fiends who are coming out of the farplane and guarding the hotsprings." Mused Baralai with some laughter in his voice. He straightened out the dust off his immaculate clothing and gave Yuna a quick over to see if she was hurt. She wasn't and he inwardly sighed a silent relief._

_"I guess that the threads between the farplane and here have not closed."_

_"Nor would it ever be." came the reply from the man who just moments before their little battle were on the verge of seducing her in the hot springs during midday._

_"I'm hungry." Yuna proclaimed._

_"Always work up an appetite after a little battle?" Baralai joked, as he lifted a white brow at her. He was already working his way into his back pack, checking for supplies. "Ahh, it's a good thing I came prepared."_

_He brought out a large thin cloth of checkered white and blue and set it down on the ground, then took out two metal cups, a small bottle of red wine, and some wrapped up bread and cheese._

_"It's not much but I always think of how hungry you get after we make love."_

_Yuna blushed at that, she was still so unused to his blunt talk but it was so reassuring that he wasn't as ashamed of it as she was. It came too easily for him while she, she always felt like a blushing virgin after they made love. She decided then that it would be good for them to remain friends, and what's a little meal between them after a little battle to make matters less strained?_

_Baralai created a small fire, he had killed a small gull earlier and skinned it, so he made sure that it was fully cooked before setting it on the paper plates that was in his sack. Awed at the feelings she created in him, he found himself studying her face, noisey in her eating habits, as if always famished. She told him the story of Buddy's gull fiasco, their rescuer and how they were called the Gullwings in the first place and Baralai laughed._

_"When you gotta eat, you gotta eat."_

_"Yeah but, couldn't they have just waited?"_

_Baralai lifted the corner of his lips, "Would you?"_

_She didn't reply and drank her wine, letting the warm liquid travel down her throat, making her feel warmer than their atmosphere._

_"Would you like a swim? It's a shame to let this go to waste, you know?"_

_"And let you take advantage of me?" Yuna replied in a somewhat flirtatious manner._

_"Of course."_


	6. Chapter 6: Before the Final Chapter

**_CHAPTER SEVEN: Baralai confronts Tidus_**

Stepping into the foyer of Yuna's dream world, Baralai scanned the horizon, noting the purplish hue of the sky and the stars that shined and sparkled like gems of different colors. It was magnificent, but the last time he was here he was possessed. He couldn't take notice of the way the air made him taken in the smell of lavender and the poppies that clung to his clothes. He took the next few steps until he saw him--the man he was seeking. With a bit of nervousness, Baralai raked a hand through his silver hair. Perhaps Yuna wouldn't think so ill of him if she knew how hard he was fighting to atone for their lack of love. Lack of love? He checked himself. Every time she was in his arms, she clung to him like a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. But if she was clinging to him in her impassioned need, he had to make sure that it was he and he alone that was the focus of her heart.

"I thought I'd see you sooner." Came the reply from the other end. Tidus gave a smug look and grated out, "You've come to save her, did you?"

Baralai had always prided himself on his honor on the battlefield within the depths of Bevelle's secret chambers and via walkways. If he had to fight with Tidus, then so be it.

His opponent stared at him,

"What makes you think that you can give Yuna what she wants? She doesn't even know what she wants, you fuck."

"So this is the great Tidus. I didn't realize you were so eloquent in your words. If I had known that Yuna fancied her men with articulate manners I would have made an effort to reduce myself to that level. Let me guess, you're going to keep coming on to her sub consciousness hoping to come alive from her energy of wanting you?"

Tidus gave a smirk; his eyes glittered in the far plane, as the hanging stars behind him glared deliberately at the intruder.

"Yeah keep talking, Praetor. You're going to find out that Yuna will always choose me. The funny part is, you're the one who's going to get hurt."

"Did it ever occur to you, Tidus that you're hurting Yuna by giving her this?"

Baralai spread his hands out as he said those words, giving Tidus a glimpse of the farplane's existence and its purpose. "This is for the dead, Tidus. Is that what you want? To bring Yuna here before her time?"

"And you? Praetor of Bevelle, what about your self righteous sanctimonious self?" Tidus walked slowly towards the other, slowly evaluating his opponent. He could destroy him here now and Yuna would not know better. She would grieve but he would make sure that she had him. Isn't that what all fair in love and war is all about? But what stops him is the fact that there is this little nigging feeling in the back of his mind that he might lose. How could he possibly lose? If he lost, then he would come back again. He was after all, a dream.

His eyes narrowed as he gazed down the shadowy passage that had swallowed him up earlier. It seemed that he wasn't sure who was going to be his ally in this fight or if he was going to do it alone.

"What about me? Is it so wrong that I'm fighting for her life to be with me? We have produced children for Spiras sake, Tidus. Do you intend to have Yuna—"

He was cut off by the quick jagged look Tidus gave him. "Shut up! I don't want to hear about your little family that you've managed to steal from me! Yuna's mine and she'll be mine forever!"

Baralai watched him. Noted that Tidus's eyes strayed at the narrow passageway that looked like a violent whirlpool, somewhere he vaguely remembered. It seemed like an eternity when he had been possessed and walked around the farplane as if he owned it. Vaguely remembering that he could not fight Tidus within the whirlpool and it occurred to him if there was going to be a battle it would not be here, in the quiet sanctuary which vehicles the farplane and the world to his own.

The air hung like a million wet daggers and Tidus made his move. Baralai stepped out of the way in time. The two men glared at each other before the next quick move came.

As the sun stars of the far plane began to set behind the west tower of the waterfalls, there were shadows that seem to present an arena of spectators that took notice of the two figures below, battling in combat, one quick and efficient, while the other, steadfast and acrobatic. The rest of the stars hung and drifted away like a moving picture and the deepening of the chill in the air, the rest of the empty crowd had drifted away as well, and you can grow excited with the spectacle of Baralai's staff making quick strokes and his opponent growing stronger with every stroke of his sword. Soon the two of them seem to be alone in the courtyard of the growing poppies beneath their feet and their pointed silence between pauses broken only by the distant strains of music and noise wafting in from the whirlpool that could any moment suck them in.

_**THE SPHERE:**_

"Unbelievable!" screamed Yuna from the doorway. The two guilty girls jumped and Rikku giggled.

"Yunie!"

"Don't you two know the meaning of privacy??! Caught red handed I see. So, I can't trust either of you can I?" Her face was set and she was a bit angry but after considering her two friends horrified expression of being caught and having to mouth wordlessly before her, it gave her a bit of a chuckle.

"I leave for a little while and think that I could trust you two behind my back and what do I get? I should be more suspicious of you guys more often, is that it? Shall I take with me the sphere when I leave the room?"

Paine grimaced, "Yuna, I'm sorry. It's all her fault" She pointed at her other guilty party.. Rikku gasped.

"Since there really isn't anything much in that sphere but our intimate moments together, I suppose it's alright. It's my fault for leaving the temptation here in the first place."

Paine apologized profusely again, for it wasn't really in her nature to go into her friend's private lives, especially one whom she respected above all others. "I can explain, Yuna. It was shameless of me to go into your privacy when you specifically said no more...I should be whipped."

Rikku stood there, giggling, she had that nervous giggle that she always kept when things were not looking her way, like the time when we got lost in the Bikanel desert and nearly suffocated in great thirst.

"It's alright you two. I should not have left it here."

Paine moved forward, wanting to put an end to her shameless act of intrusion, "Yuna, forgive me. I never meant to barge into your privacy, it was, it was....it was her fault." She pointed a finger at Rikku.

"Did you know— ..." Yuna interrupted the near remark Rikku was going to voice out to Paine. The two girls looked at her steadily.

"Did you know that Baralai asked me to marry him in the Bikanel desert? A long time ago?"

"Really? So why the rendezvous?" Paine inquired suspiciously.

"Because, it was my fault really. I didn't want any of my friends to know about him and me. I wanted to keep it a secret and eventually we got married anyway, besides I was pregnant you know."

"So let me get this straight." Paine mused interestedly, "You've been in love with Baralai for as long as we've been hanging out and you're now just showing us your feelings and his, and all this time, we thought you'd gone into a loveless marriage? My god, Yuna, and what about Tidus?"

Rikku was about to make an exclamation but Yuna cut her off, her tone more gentler yet concern creased her brow.. "I'm worried."

"What's wrong, Yunie?"

"I feel something wrong....and it has to do with Baralai and Tidus."

"Uh oh." Paine gave her a knowing look. "What kind of feeling?"

As Yuna straightened, her gaze met theirs and looked over their heads, staring at the sphere on the bed abandoned but the vision of Baralai and herself still in an amorous embrace shocked her. "I think something is wrong. They're in danger!"

She put her hands in her face and she started to cry.

Paine and Rikku stared at her, then Rikku jumped on the bed and held her friend. "Ohh, Yunie, don't worry. They're okay right? Baralai is on that exhibition or something and Tidus is on the far plane right? or wherever unsents are."

"No no...it's all my fault. I have this gut feeling. I don't know. I need to go to the farplane now!"

"This is ridiculous." Paine had her arms folded, "You're going to farplane so you can go meet Tidus? What about poor Baralai?"

She met the sharp look of her friends gaze and through her tear filled eyes, she gasped, "Somethings wrong. It's both of them! I don't know....it has to do with Tidus."

_**FARPLANE:**_

In the misty clouds of the farplane, Tidus's energy which he took from this place was getting stronger and Baralai, his sweat coming down his face, his lips pursed, the strength of him seem to drown in this place. He would die her and all this effort to save Yuna from her disease would be all for naught. He tried to save her from dying only to find out that by that, he would find his own grave here in the far plane.....he could never share Yuna as an unsent. It would all be for nothing. He took one last swallow before making another attempt to thwart off the attack Tidus gave him. The last blow nearly sent him flying on the soft ground, to lay among the lavender scents and the poppies that threaten to hold him down. His staff broke after several attempts to deliver a blow to Tidus only to have it be torn in two.

A familiar voice seem to echo out in the background. But he was on the ground surrounded by red blood poppies and the scent of lavender began to blend into the sandalwood smell of her. The only woman whom he had ever loved. His woman's lover stood there above him, his deliverer, smiling evilly, as if he enjoyed this and why not? Would he not have enjoyed taking him down, sending him back further into the farplane where he would not be able come back for his wife?

"Say goodnight, Praetor." Tidus whispered, and he raised his blue flaming sword above Baralai like an avenging god. He never felt the blow, he didn't know why, but he remembered how the sound of her voice wafted in and out of his bruised and battered condition.

He lay there, panting, staring at the hung stars that seem to fall onto his head, and his head, oh his head began to swirl and they were full of Yuna's visage. Her lovely face in tears as she held him, crying, telling him to wake up, to come back to her. She said she had made her choice. She would remain with him forever and forever and never look at another man as long as she breathed.

But it was too late.

She was saved but she couldn't be with the man she decided to be with in the end..

Paine and Rikku stood right outside the far plane's entrance and watched with an empty heart.

"I can't believe it!" Rikku screamed. "It's like some kind of sad ending! I can't bear to look." Her sobs drowned out anything else that Paine might have said in the bleak sunlight of that day. Paine stared horrified of what happened.

"Couldn't he just take a phoenix down?"

Through Yuna's tear blazed eyes, she looked at her friend. "Yes, you're right!" Then she looked up at Tidus. "Tidus. I need a phoenix down."

"Yuna. You can't mean this. I belong to you. He came here to save you didn't you know that? By that, he saved you by me taking his life and that forfeited yours"

Tidus knelt beside her and took her tear stained face in his hands. "My darling. He gave you back your life to me. You can remain in the mortal world and here in the farplane. No more dreams between you and me. They are real now."

"What?" She stared at him not comprehending. She thought that if once Tidus came to her those several years before, he wouldn't have any trouble again. But he looked at her as if knowing her thoughts. "Yuna, I can't come back to you the way I did then, I can only come to you in your dreams. You were dying because of me. Coming to you in your dreams and loving you, it cannot be without consequences. Baralai finally figured it out and came here to find me so he can challenge me, only to give his own life so you may live with me, forever."

"No! NO! NO!" she shook her head and she railed at his words, "I don't want it! I want him! I don't want you!"

"Yuna, you're upset but I know you'll always love me."

"Not like this! Not like this!" she screamed and she held on to Baralai's limp body as if it were her life.

Paine and Rikku approached. "Yunie! You can't remain here too long. We have to get back. We can take Baralai's body back and find a phoenix down but it has to be soon!"

Tidus's face contorted in anger. "You idiots! You can't do that!" He looked about to murder them and both the girls stopped.

"Whoa, Tidus baby, you've changed! What's gone over you? Being dead too long got you all grumpy?" Rikku made light of the situation but inside she was shaking. She hadn't seen Tidus this angry as when his look a like from a thousand years past had confronted them. Was this what made him so crazy?

"Oh my god!" Rikku screamed. "Don't you get it, Yuna? Paine?" she looked around at the girls, Yuna on the ground holding fast Baralai's limp upper body. Paine beside her gave her a strange look.

"What? You better hurry and tell us or Mister nice guy here is going to send us where all the unsent go."

"It's simple! The longer an unsent has been an unsent, he turns into this avenging mad being."

"Nope. Sorry, Rikku. Tidus was already sent. Wasn't he?"

"NO he wasn't. Not by Yuna. Everyone thought he was already sent because Yuna did all those moves and dances that sent every unsent over to the far plane. But seriously, Why and how come Tidus was able to be sent back to the world among us? Because he's never been sent!"

"I dont understand."

Tidus made a clicking noise with his tongue. "You've always been such a little clever girl, Rikku, despite your not so smart looks."

"And you've become an overbearing monster." She pouted back at him. "What's got over you anyway? You've become one of those monsters who fight us daily."

Paine stopped her, "Rikku, can Yuna send him?"

Yuna looked at them. "No. I can't."

Tidus threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Oh you girls are rich! And a clever bunch you all are but too late, sweethearts. Yuna is mine and forever...oh and you can wish Baralai's little soul good bye too while you're at it."

"Not if I can help it, Tidus." Yuna faced him, she was standing there like an avenging angel, her long brown hair flowing in the still air of the far plane, the violet flowers swirling around her and Rikku whispered to Paine, "How'd that happen? Everytime Yuna gets all angry, all these flowers come out of no where. Wish I could do that."

"I no longer want you, Tidus. You've become the man I would never love. You're not the Tidus I knew and fell in love with. You have become a monster and for that....we have to fight!"

Yuna looked at her two friends. "You ready?"

Rikku smiled, and her face registered a familiar expression, "You got it! R!"

"Y"

"P" Paine cried out, and they all three held the swords and knives out like the cover of a magazine, modeling their familiar stance in front of the great unsent and the lost love of Yuna.

"What the fuck!?" Tidus gaped at them.

Yuna changed into her gun suit and started to do a flip flop, extending out her two hands which housed two double barreled shot guns. "Yeah, baby, I've got the goods this time. No more pistols for little ole'me!"

Rikku swirled her knives, which looked like swords and began to slice the air between them, "Get ready you big bad meanie!"

Paine nodded.

XXXXXXXXXX

**AUTHORS NOTE**: _Yes, Tidus has gone a bit over the end hasn't he? I'm sorry for the Tidus's fans but it was part of the plot....but don't worry!!!_


	7. Final chapter: Tidus!

**_FINAL CHAPTER: TIDUS'S FINALE_**

The three of them faced Tidus, ready and armed, Yuna in her gunsphere, fired up and ready, while her two companions got her back. Rikku sharp as her own knives, her teeth sparkled in the foreground of the farplane's mist. While Paine stood tense, ready to go forward like a bow ready to swing her large blade.

But Tidus stood his ground and cried out, "Yuna! You can't be serious, honey. This is Tidus, your only true love her! You can't fight me!"

"Tidus, I do love you but what you've done to Baralai has crossed the lines, I don't know...STOP! I don't want any more say on it. We have to fight!"

The blonde haired man gave her a steely stare, his blue eyes looked at her blue and green ones, determined yet beneath, and there was a slight faltering. He loved her, but not this way. Not this way. They all stood there, waiting for the other to attack but Rikku started, she threw the first throw. And off her knives go with two quick swipes, her suede brown skirt swaying in the slight breeze and she made some damage. He didn't prepare his stance and defense for the upper cuts.

He swiped back his cut face with the back of his arm and gritted his teeth, his visage looking very similar to that of Shuyin years ago that Yuna had to gasp aloud, making her vulnerable for a split second, letting her guns down. It was Paine who took the initiative but too late, Tidus was too quick for her, while she attacked with her heavy sword, Tidus made a double flip over Paine and with his burning sword stabbed her with several swipes of his own, making Paine double over. Luckily she was the most armored one of them all, accepting the damage with grace and continued to parry back with her own thrust of the sword, missing her mark. She grunted with disapproval with her own lax attack. It has been awhile since she's been able to fight in combat with worthy opponents. Most of their challengers were stupid monsters that roamed the calm lands and gorges. They were easy as pie but this one, this unsent called Tidus, a dream had skills so similar to Shuyin that she winced.

"Ready to put down your swords, ladies?" Tidus taunted with a sneer.

Yuna shot out, her guns on automatic and she double flipped front forward, getting closer to her once lover who turned enemy. She had to do this for the sake of Baralai's own demise and her own stupid carelessness of throwing away his love. What was she thinking? She was married and made vows. Was she no better than any harlot that roamed the boardwalks of Kilika?

"Yuna!" Tidus held her fast before she could pump any more bullets into this open wounds. He had swallowed some cures quickly and he breathed his sweet familiar breath in her ear. "My dearest, please, don't do this. You don't think for a minute that Baralai would do the same in my place? He would want to be with you forever!"

"Oh Tidus, NO! You have to be stopped. You can't get away with this! Unless you bring back Baralai's soul into him. Give him a phoenix down!" Yuna cried through wet tears that blocked her vision and her concentration to aim properly.

Rikku and Paine lowered their weapons slowly after witnessing the scene before them. Yuna in Tidus's arms, where moments before he was fighting them. "Tidus, please, bring him back!"

Tidus waited for a moment. No one saw that he was doing something. Something that would send Yuna beyond the farplane and into his world.

Yuna's wet eyes opened wide and screamed. She knew that he wasn't going to relent. He was determined despite his pleading of love and adoration. It was a ruse! And she fell for it every time!

_Easy, stand your ground_, her father Braska would say to her when she was little. An enemy he would say only wanted one thing and that was to abolish everything in which you stand for and for what they believe they think is necessary to get to their own needs. It was this way or nothing else. He was just doing his part, living the rest of his empty existence in the farplanes of the unsent and the dream world of which Yuna created. Not one of them wanted to be stepped on, or heaven help them, relent to the other. Because, they would not be together if that is the case. And to Tidus, to spend an eternity without Yuna was not in the plan.

Finally, Tidus raised his blazing sword, creating a halo around him and Yuna and she made a back flip far away from the light that nearly blinded them.

"You stay there!" she screamed. "Wipe that grin off your face."

Then it was when the fayth came visible to them, stopping Tidus in his execution of their existence. Their voices were filled with ancient echoes and Paine and Rikku wondered at the purplish aura like light that seem to have stopped the two from fighting.

The fayth came up to Yuna, "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to have Tidus come and wreck your life, Yuna. We allowed him to continue here in the farplane, here in the depths in hopes that you can always be with him in your dreams but unfortunately, he had acquired jealousies and envy that had built up over time. He couldn't bear to see you having a child with another and all the benefits of what it means to be human.......again."

With that little speech, Yuna nodded. She glanced at Tidus, frozen in time it seems but he looked menacing and ready to hurt her. Looking away quickly she didn't want to remember this horrible part of Tidus. If anything, remembering him as he was before was something to keep in memory. Not this.

"What about my husband Baralai?"

"Oh yes, we shall give him the phoenix down you deserve for him. Give this to him now and he will revive when you take him away from here." After the fayth gave the piece of gel capsule to Yuna, the fayth said, "Do you not want to see Tidus anymore? After this?"

Yuna had three options:

1.Yes: But only as before!

2. No, that's okay, I should live my life with Baralai now with no interruptions of my lost first love.

3. I don't want any part of these two! Who needs men?!

Yuna hesitated and then finally, nodded and pausing at the 1st question, she chose the 2nd.

"Okay, Yuna, it shall be done." The fayth replied with confirmation.

_**BACK IN BEVELLE**_

Baralai had to remain in bed for a few days. It was a very difficult healing process for him to return back from the near dead. After closing the bed chambers, Yuna walked out and Paine and Rikku smiled with some semblance that Yuna's husband will be okay.

"Yunie?! How is he? Is he going to be up on his feet soon?" piped Rikku.

"Humpf, that Tidus was pretty strong and agile if I may say so, I'd give him another battle just for practice sake," Paine remarked seriously.

"You two have been wonderful. Thank you." Yuna said gratefully, "He'll be up on his feet in a few days or that's what the doctors say. It's funny how we never needed doctors before when a couple of phoenix downs and cures will do the job....but now, now that things have accelerated, things about death and how much time a person can remain dead in the farplane, I don't think Baralai would be able to get back considering he was killed by Tidus."

"Phew!" cried Rikku. "I'm sure glad that the fayth came when they did huh?"

"Yes, and I have good news!" Yuna blushed.

"Oh?!"

"I'm pregnant!"

"Again?!" Rikku gasped. "Wow! At this rate, even Lulu will need to catch up to you! I bet Wakkas not attending to his duties fast enough!"

Paine shook her head, "You've such a dirty little mind, Rikku. It's not a wonder you haven't gotten laid by that Gippal guy. He's such a player you know."

"Oh! At this rate, I'll end up a lesbian like you!" giggled Rikku.

"Uh no. I don't think so! You can't just be a lesbian like that, Rikku. You know when you are or not! And you're not! You're too busy staring at Gippal or some other hot looking Al bhed guy and once you did look at Baralai with some interest before he married Yuna."

"I did not!" Rikku cried, horrified to have been found out.

But as the two kept arguing back and forth, Yuna placed a hand over her stomach and with some worry; she realized that the baby she carried, isn't from Baralai but from Tidus.

She looked out the window for a second, watching the clouds move quickly with the wind and seem to see Tidus's face reflect there, smiling, contented and be the man she once knew.

Looking at her belly, she whispered, "You're going to look just like your daddy, aren't you?"

**_THE END_**


End file.
